Choosing Your First AI Coding Agent

Before comparing specific products, it helps to pick a category first. Every tool in the directory falls into one of a few shapes, and the shape matters more than the brand.

The three shapes

Terminal agents (Claude Code, Aider) operate directly on your local repository from the command line. They fit naturally into an existing git-based workflow and don’t require changing your editor.

IDE-integrated agents (Cursor, Windsurf, GitHub Copilot) live inside an editor. They’re the easiest on-ramp if you already have a comfortable IDE setup and want AI layered on top rather than replacing your tools.

Browser builders (Bolt.new, Replit Agent, Lovable) run entirely in the cloud and can take you from a prompt to a deployed app with no local setup at all. They trade some control for speed.

A simple decision rule

• Already have a codebase and a git workflow you like? → Terminal agent
• Want AI blended into your existing editor? → IDE-integrated agent
• Starting from zero and want to move fast without local setup? → Browser builder

Don’t over-optimize the first choice

The workflow skills — clear task framing, reviewing diffs, verifying behavior — transfer across all three categories. Pick the shape that matches how you already work, and revisit the choice once you’ve felt the friction points yourself rather than researching indefinitely.

Next in this series: how to actually prompt these agents for non-trivial work.